Day:123 22/7/94 Kingswear to Brixham

Weather: Hot & sunny, hardly any breeze 

Distance: 15km, (9.3 miles)    Total Distance: 1526 miles

I took the 7.45am bus again to Dartmouth and then the ferry over to Kingswear.  The school children on the bus that had been making a terrible din a couple of days previously were a bit more subdued today I'm glad to say. Maybe it was because some of the more noisy amongst them had decided to skip the last day of term!  A mother and toddler did however get on the bus and when they got off I was stunned to see that the little boy had a pet snail sliming all over his hand - yuck!  There were only two of us on the ferry which appeared to run at frequent intervals even at that hour in the morning.  

The first part of the walk out of Kingswear was along country lanes lined with cottages.  The first climb of the day was at Mill Bay Cove.  There was a memorial here to Harry "H" Jones of Falkland war fame.  The next couple of miles were tough walking, especially as I took the lower path options that went close to sea level in some instances.  I thought the undergrowth was getting thick but just as I thought it was going to be a tough morning I passed a group of four National Trust volunteers cutting it back which made it much easier from then on. I gave them a heary thank-you.

 

The area was littered with concrete Second World War defence buildings.  The air was hot and still making it difficult to walk and added to this I kept thinking about the warning in the guide book that there was a very hard section coming up!  The sea birds on Mew Stone were noisy and those nesting on the cliffs were agitated by me walking past.  I thought they may even try attacking me at one stage. Also along this section I came across five small ponies who looked to be suffering as much as I was in the heat.

 Close to the National Trust gardens at Colleton Fishacre, I stopped and talked to a walker who was backpacking the whole path in 33 days and collecting for a kidney charity. I was so impressed and not having any change I gave him £5, after all he must have been authentic if he was putting himself through that!

The climbs up to there had been relatively short and obscured by bends etc.  The next section was much more open and I could see the steep climbs up Ivy Bay, Scabbercombe Cliff and Southdown Cliff way in advance.  I went into very low gear and took my time on the climbs, speeding up on the flats.  This way I actually found these bits easier than the climbs earlier in the day. 

The quality of the walk gradually deteriorated into Brixham. The initial views into St Mary's Well Bay were fine but the walking became a series of narrow paths hemmed in by hedges and trees and getting dirtier and dirtier, smelling strongly of dog excrement in parts due to the hot weather.  I skirted the extensive fort building before turning the final corner into Brixham.  The beaches were crowded with sun worshippers. The people looked more and more unhealthy as Brixham approached!  Added to this the harbour smelt as it was low tide!

I asked in the Tourist Information Centre on the front the way to the bus stops.  There was a good bus service back to Kingswear; in fact the buses all week had been excellent. This was the first week where I had made extensive use of this mode of transport.  I had time to rush into Woolworths to grab an ice cream and drink to make sure I did not dehydrate in the heat.  This day and the second day had been the best walking days of the holiday.  The days walking along the estuaries had not been bad, but it had been too hot to enjoy the small villages to the full extent.

The bus took me back to Kingswear where I caught the ferry back to Dartmouth which was much more crowded than at 8.45am that morning.  I was in Dartmouth at 2.00 and waited for a while for my wife and sleeping son to turn up who had spent the morning at Blackpool Sands.  I talked to some elderly ladies on a day out from Brixham enjoying an ice cream.

We spent time in the local park in the shade then went to have afternoon tea before returning to Kingsbridge calling into the supermarket for last provisions for the journey home.  England were starting to struggle in the test match against South Africa - the first game since the ban had been lifted.  I went out for fish and chips later to save cooking on our last night.